Sea to Shore : An open Clandestine

Transitioning ashore for a mariner is not easy. But a time comes when this change becomes inevitable.  Please sit back with your favorite drink and read through my own experience of the transition from sea to shore. I will try to keep it short.

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The notion of quitting sea and transitioning ashore is a thought process which is synonymous to all mariners .But what makes it so difficult is something that i would like to express.
Life was going smooth & steady as planned and god was being kind enough in unfolding every page
as and when needed. My sea career started in 2007. The juvenile child in me was excited to take on the world of my dreams. Over the years, the glasses of maturity had become permanent. We tend to understand things more realistically and life is being read from a completely different thought process.
The home sickness was never there for me but the time spent at sea definitely taught me what does family and home bring to your life. I was fortunate to grow with some of the great leaders who helped me shape as a qualified mariner with great panache.

But life is not all about rosy days. As mentioned in my previous article, losing my father while being at sea brought a mammoth change in my life. Remembering his golden words "Hard work and experience has no substitute" kept me going. Mind & heart were collaborating and paving a path to towards a new chapter.

March 2020 : A time when the world was battling the wrath of corona virus.
Sailors were declared as the essential workers. The world stopped including the aviation industry but ships manned by their mariners were cruising through the seas and serving the world.
I was one of the many sailors sitting in my house wondering if going to sea is the right call during the outspread of corona virus

But what other options did i have? The impulse answer was NONE.

And then the hurricane of eagerness in me had risen. The search of various shore jobs was on my google search. Be it a marine supdt, vetting, operations, surveyors, pilots, etc : you name it and i knew the criteria for them and soon I had my juvenile conclusion : i need to go back to sea. Ha ! Destiny had its own plan. The juvenile Baldeep had woken up with a mission. The mission was to find out which shore job is suitable for me and why is it so difficult to come ashore.The plethora of advises from the industry peers was of great help but it also kept procrastinating the decision and to some extent make it confusing.

The few weeks of brain storming on the shore jobs had made one thing very clear. I was not going back to sea without giving my heart and soul in an attempt to find a shore job and then came a role knocking towards me. I say knocking towards me because it was totally unexpected.

The selection process started and with every round my eagerness was amplifying.
The offer letter found its way in my inbox and it also left an unwritten question.
Is this money enough to sustain? Am i doing the right thing?
The above questions have safely anchored across all the mariners always. How strongly money was taken over our lives is simply unimaginable. 😉

It was that time where i had to take the call and put an end to the turbulence in my mind.
Speaking to some of my trusted peers, i accepted the offer and thanked almighty for this opportunity.
At times, we go into the ungrateful zone and make it extremely difficult for ourselves to trust the almighty plan.

As i write about this experience, i have completed 4 years successfully ashore and have even blessed with an elevation at the beginning of 2024.  Whoever said that God is great and trust his plan must have gone through a similar experience. The last 4 years have been enthralling for various reasons. Its simply incredible when mariners approach me and seek advise prior coming ashore. :D

Some words of wisdom to end this write up.
"Glass is half empty of or half full" was an idiom written by a genius.
  Do not complicate things my fellow mariners. Trust your self and the almighty.

With that, I am presuming the drink poured at the start of the article is over.
And if this article has forced you to have another drink, do invite me but ensure the glass is always half full. 😊

Cheers !
Rab Rakha !
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Baldeep Singh

 

Recalling my toughest & emotional moment at sea - Lost my Dad

Date : 09th June 2019, Sunday

Ship'S Name : G.H..ROUGH HABIT

Rank : Second Officer

Being a sailor or mariner is definitely not an easy job. The very fact that a mariner is far away from his/her loved ones makes it one of the most difficult professions in the world.Today, i am sharing an incident which was certainly the most difficult time of my life at sea (so far). A lot of mariners would definitely relate to it. 

We completed loading in Peru, South America on 31st May 2019 and set sail for a long and beautiful trans ocean voyage through pacific ocean.The vessel was bound for her discharge port Qingdao, China. The voyage duration was supposed to be a little over a month. Beautiful weather, calm seas had set the tone of the voyage.

I completed my navigation watch from 0000-0400 and handed over the bridge to Chief Officer & reached my cabin. In a short while, i had gone to sleep but there was 

something that was causing some sort of discomfort within my self. I told my self , may be i am starting to get home sick as i had completed 4 months at sea but little did i knew that a dreadful news was on its way.

09th June 2019, 1030 : Woke up to freshen up, have lunch and proceed to bridge for my navigation watch at 1200hrs. While freshening up, i connected my phone with ship's wifi and received a flurry of messages.My wife's message was "Call, it's urgent". Without any delay, i called and there was the dreadful news.

She picked the phone. Her voice was trembling, she was crying and she said - "Please be strong but papa is no more". It took a moment for me to realise what she said and accept it. I kept the phone, immediately went to the Captain of the ship and informed him about this unfortunate incident. He was in shock too. 

The fact that the vessel was in the middle of pacific ocean and the next port of call was more than a month away, i clearly knew that i will not be able to see my father ever again. I will not be able to perform his last rites. Never knew that i had to face such a situation. With some courage, i managed to speak with my mother and my family. 

I was devastated. But thanks to my ship mates for giving me emotional support inorder to keep me calm and composed.

Such is the hardships that mariners face. Life can be very uncertain.

I am left with the photographs and memories of my father. A feeling of guilt has crept in my heart and mind as i could not be with my family during this unfortunate incident which haunts me time and again even now.

Parents are indeed the most precious people in our lives. Value them, respect them and cherish each and every moment spent with them because life is very uncertain.

Recalling my first experience on joining a ship.

 Had to start of this blog by digging into the past and going back to the day when my life was about to change.
                                                           
Date                 : 07 Dec 2007
Company         : Wilhelmsen Ship Management
Port of Joining : Kobe, Japan


Having completed my 1 year shore training , i returned home with enthusiasm and excitement to my family to enjoy my holidays with them before i set sail to the high seas.

High seas ? , a term that i had been listening for over a year and had absolutely no clue what it actually meant. My life was about to change completely and i had no clue about it. All i knew 
was that i am one step closer to living a life that i had only read about or seen in the movies.
And one fine day , my landline rang and it was my joining call . All the excitement suddenly 
turned into nervousness and the fear of leaving my family away and going onboard started to 
sink in.

Reached the office to learn about my first training assignment. It was 'M.V.TOURCOING'(car carrier)
 that i was supposed to join in Kobe, Japan. Signed my first ever contract , and trust me the 
only thing i read was my stipend - 400 USD !

Walked out of the office to head home with all my documents carefully secured in my bag.
(after all i was doing all this ALONE for the first time ). Excited i was for sure but also the 
scared and nervous feeling was killing me every moment. I was asking my self again and again,
will i be able to do it ? alone ? no family ? 9 months ! huh , it all seemed like a joke and i told myself-
what have you got yourself in into ? With the burden of all these thoughts i reached home and showed my documents to my parents . Everyone had a smiling face but behind all the smiles was the fear of 
not being able to see my for so many months.

With a lot of courage i started to pack my luggage for 9 months. Not knowing what i would be facing in the coming months , i did not let my confidence shatter. We all left in the cab for the airport . Pin drop silence in the cab , none of us knew what to talk and time kept slipping away . It was a feeling which simply cant be put in words. Reached the airport well in time, (after all it was my first international flight) , put my luggage on the trolley and realised '' this is the moment where i have to leave my mom and dad and move ahead to pursue my careers '' and it wasn't easy.

I hugged them both tightly trying hard to control my emotions. But then as i turned , i saw my mother sad and shedding tears from her eyes. This moment of separation made me realise how much i would miss them . Not easy ! 
After completing the formalities , i called my parents . Without any surprises , the call was taken in the first ring -
 is everything ok ? 
are you fine ?
 and lastly they said - '' take care , we will miss you a lot, don't worry about us but do take good care of yourself and hope to see you soon.

Leave your comments guys sharing your first experiences.